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Thursday, February 01, 2007

December 05, 2004

Abridged movie reveiw: Alexander

I don't think I can really sugar coat my true feelings about this movie, it was just a tremendous disappointment for me.

I did the math, I really enjoy period type pieces like this, the cast hired on to bring this film to life was comprised of people who's work I do enjoy in other works, Oliver Stone is set to direct... how can this thing go wrong?

Well it took a few key mistakes. The first thing that hurt the movie for me was apparent immediately, remember this is a form a period piece (which is good) so why not film it as such? Instead the lighting was very bright and clear to start out with and just seemed too perfect, the film was crystal clear as well. I do feel the film should have been a little bit grainy and the lighting was just too bright, even for portraying a bright sunny day it was a bit much, it really took me out of the film tremendously the clarity of the light and film really made the whole set and everyone in it seem fake and out of place.

Next up we have the actors, for the most part they did a pretty darn good job with what they had, Val Kilmer was probably the standout performance for me but if you told me you enjoyed someone else's performance in the flick I probably wouldn't argue with you, the real problem in the acting department is an odd one. Accents, some people had them, some people didn't, and then there was Angelina Jolie I really enjoyed her accent unfortunately it just felt out of place, it was too strong an accent in a movie where accents were not a focal point for any of the other actors. Again a small gripe but it is something that just kept popping up in my mind as I watched the movie.

Now we get into the major problem I had with Alexander it was boring, very boring at parts. Sure there were a few shining moments here and there but they just weren't enough. Ok first we get a good scene of (presumably) Alexanders last moments and then we cut to a narrative by Anthony Hopkins that was far too long, four minutes of dialog may not sound like much at all but the way this was put together it really dragged on, In the theater I could tell I was not the only one losing patience and attention with it. This feeling of "too long" and "hurry up and get to the next scene" is somewhat of a theme throughout the movie, the dialog at times also seemed just to be awkwardish, especially the dialog and scenes eluding to the bisexuality and the love, it just seemed to be dragged up over and over again just to add a spice of something controversial instead of it being used as another part of the story.

The action scenes were good for the most part, brutal certainly, graphic definitely, fitting mostly, but epic hardly. I have said this before and I no doubt will end up saying this type of thing again but the editing and the cutting from one spot to another during a big war type fight scene was just too fast dizzyingly fast at times I missed half of the action trying to keep up. Why not just pick out 3 or 4 certain spots within the fight you want to showcase and make sure you can do them justice and give them clear screen time. In between those battles within the battle you of course can do some of the fast editing and don't be afraid to give out a few distant shots of the action from above, it doesn't always have to be shots taken from inside the confusing ruckus.

Overall I would say this movie just completely failed to keep me involved in the story or the characters. My recommendation is to just go out and watch Troy